Nokia riles Apple with iPod, iPad, iPhone patent suit

Nokia says it has filed complaints against Jobs’ Mob in three EU countries, namely Germany, the UK and The Netherlands.

The Finnish maker of mobile phones and former Don of Symbian thee Deceased claims Apple products such as the iPod Touch, iPad and iPhone are infringing its patents.

“These actions add 13 further Nokia patents to the 24 already asserted against Apple in the USInternational Trade Commission and the Delaware and Wisconsin Federal courts,” claimed Nokia’s IP VP Paul Melon, er Melin. The patents refer to “wiping gesture on a touch screen to navigate content, or enabling access to constantly changing services with an on-device app store, both filed more than ten years before the launch of the iPhone.”

Nokia’s complaint in the UK covers four patents, the complaint filed in Duesseldorf, Germany covers seven patents, the third court case (five patents) was again filed in Germany, yet in Mannheim, whilst last, but not least the case filed in The Hague covers two patents. According to Nokia, none of the patents “are essential to any wireless communication standard”.

Nokia did not go out of its way to say it had invested around 40 billion euros in R&D in the last twenty years and owns 11,000 patent families.

Apple and Nokia are currently in the midst of battling it out in front of the USITC (US International Trade Commission). Early November, the ITC ruled that Apple’s allegations against Nokia were without merit, stating the claims were either invalid or patents had not been infringed.

Nonetheless, neither company is calling it quits. The unseemly row continues.

Early November, Florian Mueller, founder of NoSoftwarePatents.com, concluded that Apple could hurt Android thanks to its multitouch patents. Apple would certainly take a beating if Nokia’s wiping gesture patent were upheld in an EU court.